The exemplary embodiments relate to the field of telephony network voicemail messaging systems, and more particularly to the provision of voicemail message waiting indicator signals.
Voice messaging services generally fall into two categories. First, answering machines or other customer premises equipment (“equipment”) may be connected directly to a telephone subscriber's telephone line. Such devices record messages from callers if a call has not been answered after a pre-determined number of ring-intervals. Typically, the equipment provides a visual and/or audible message waiting indicator to alert the subscriber that a message has been received. However, a drawback to such equipment-based systems is that calls must be received by the subscriber's equipment before callers can leave a message. Accordingly, such equipment is not useful for recording messages when a caller receives a busy signal. To overcome this problem, among others, telephone service providers have implemented the second category of voice messaging service: telephony network-based voicemail messaging server (“VMS”) systems.
In a telephony-based VMS system, when a call is not answered or cannot be connected to a subscriber's telephone line, intelligence within the telephone network routes the call to a centralized VMS system. The advantages of such centralized telephony-based VMS services are well-known in the art. For example, the subscriber may receive voicemail messages while he is using his telephone line to speak to another person or for a connection to an online data service. Moreover, because of the centralized nature of the VMS system, the telephone service provider may provide power and data system backups to increase reliability and availability of the VMS system. However, such telephony-based VMS systems have difficulty notifying the subscriber when he has new messages waiting to be heard on the server.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram depicting a conventional system for alerting a telephony-based voicemail subscriber that a voice mail message has been received on the telephony voicemail system. In FIG. 1, voicemail messages are processed and stored in telephony network 100 by VMS 102. When a caller leaves such a voicemail message for a subscriber, VMS 102 alerts the subscriber via central office 104. Central office 104 sends a signal to the subscriber's telephone to provide an alert to the subscriber. If the telephone is part of an integrated system, such as telephone 106, a voicemail message waiting indicator (“MWI”) may be displayed or provided directly on the telephone device. Alternatively, a separate MWI system 108 may be attached to telephone 110, as shown in FIG. 1. Central office 104 may also generate a pre-determined tone (e.g., “stagger tone”) on the subscriber's line to alert the subscriber that a message has been received.
Because the conventional MWI system as shown in FIG. 1 relies on the subscriber's equipment, it suffers from some of the same problems as described above for conventional answering machines. That is, although callers now may leave a voicemail message through the centralized VMS system even when the subscriber's telephone line is unavailable (speaking with another caller or using an online data service) the subscriber's telephone line must be available to send a notification signal to the equipment. Thus, if the line is busy, the subscriber will not be informed when new messages are waiting on the voicemail server.
FIG. 2A depicts a conventional system by which message waiting indicators can be provided to a subscriber while connected to an online data service, via a display on the computer that is connected online. Such a system may be useful, for example, when the subscriber's telephone line is unavailable to callers because it is connected to data network 202 using a dial-up connection. In such a situation, the conventional MWI system shown in FIG. 1 does not enable the central office to send the MWI signal over the subscriber's telephone line until after the subscriber has disconnected from the data network. With this system, as shown in FIGS. 2A-2C, the subscriber can be notified fairly quickly of a new voicemail message even while online, through notification over a computer network to the subscriber's voice/data communications device.
The conventional system of FIG. 2A includes client computer 200 and voicemail server system 206. Client computer 200 can include a processor 220 coupled via bus 222 to network port 224, and memory 226. Specialized software is installed in memory 226 of client computer 200 for connecting to voicemail server system 206 to receive MWI information on the client computer 200. Client computer 200 can communicate with voicemail server system 206 via network 202. Server 206 can include a processor 230 coupled via bus 232 to network port 234, and memory 236.
In this system, a message waiting indicator may be sent from VMS system 204 to server system 206 for transmission over network 202 to client 200, as shown in FIG. 2A. Server 206 includes database 209 for storing and processing MWI messages received from VMS 204. Alternatively, VMS system 204 may be connected within network 202 and configured to send message waiting indicators directly to client 200. In either case, special software installed on client computer 200 opens a connection to server 206 when the subscriber logs onto network 202. In response to this open connection, server 206 sends MWI messages to client computer 200. These messages are to be sent periodically in accordance with the specialized software, upon requests from client computer 200.
In a conventional TCP/IP socket-based system, this can be accomplished by the client opening a TCP connection to a predefined port on the server 206 and waiting for data to arrive via that connection. The server responds with a record of a predefined format, with content indicating whether a message is waiting. The client computer 200 continues to monitor the connection for additional records, in case that a message is received subsequent to a request.
The specialized client software may operate in any suitable manner to display the alert message to the subscriber via display area 208 on client 200. For example, in FIG. 2B, a small client window 210 may be opened in a non-intrusive place within display 208. In this example, the specialized client software runs independently of any other applications. That is, window 210 need not be run from within another application and the window may be moved and resized according to the subscriber's preferences. Window 210 may provide a graphical or textual indicator to alert the subscriber. Alternatively, computer 200 may provide an audible indicator. As another example, an icon may be incorporated into the system tray or other display location in display area 208. For example, icon 212 on system menu bar 214 may be used, as shown in FIG. 2B. Icon 212 may be further configured to blink or change colors to indicate that a message waiting indicator signal has been received.
FIG. 2C depicts a display on a client computer based upon specialized software for providing MWI information over a web browser. In this configuration, web browser 216 is opened in display area 208, and server 206 includes a web server to provide web pages to the web browser. The client software may be implemented using Java or a comparable applet technology (also referred to as “mobile code”) embedded in web browser application 216. The applet may display a message in a frame or other area 218 on web browser 216.
In the above-described conventional systems, a subscriber's client computer has specialized software installed to directly retrieve information over a network from voicemail system 204 through server 206. While this may allow for a direct connection, there are also disadvantages associated with requiring special software to be installed to receive MWI messages over a network to a client computer. Particularly, many computing devices do not support installed client applications. For example, Internet Appliances that operate almost exclusively for browsing the Internet may not allow users to load client programs for persistent memory. As another example, computers located behind corporate firewalls may not permit traffic flow other than HTTP. Although it is possible that a Java applet or similar code module could be downloaded across a network as necessary, Java applets will not run unless the client computer has other software installed, such as a Java Virtual Machine or a Macromedia Flash runtime system. In any event, Java applets are known to be slow to execute and slow to download via limited bandwidth connections. Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method for providing a voicemail message waiting indicator to subscribers without the need for special software on the client's computer.